Page 7 - Aerotech News and Review May 2023

On this date ...
May 6, 1968: Astronaut Neil Armstrong ejects at about 200 feet, from Bell Aerospace Lunar Landing Research Vehicle No. 1, known as the “Flying Bedstead”, at NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center, Ellington AFB, Houston, Texas, as it goes out of control. Had he ejected 1/2 second later, his chute would not have deployed fully.
May, 7, 1991: Space Shuttle Endeavour arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, after being flown on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft from NASA’s Dryden (now Armstrong) Flight Research Center, Edwards Calif. In 1987, the U.S. Congress approved the construction of Endeavour to replace the Challenger that was destroyed in 1986. NASA chose, on cost grounds, to build much of Endeavour from spare parts rather than refitting the Space Shuttle Enterprise, and used structural spares built during the construction of Discovery and Atlantis in its assembly. Endeavour rolled out of the Rockwell facility at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif., on April 25, 1991.
May 9, 1949: The initial flight of Republic’s rocket-assisted jet fighter, the XF-91 Thunderceptor, took place piloted by Carl Bellinger. The aircraft was unusual in a number of respects. Its swept back wings were wider and thicker at the tip than the root; its dual-wheel landing gear retracted outward; and it carried an auxiliary jet motor at the base of its tail.
May 10, 1967: The M2-F2 lifting body aircraft was seriously damaged in a landing accident on the lakebed, injuring NASA test pilot Bruce A. Peterson. The aircraft impacted the lakebed and rolled several times, coming to rest on its top. The aircraft subsequently was rebuilt with a center fin and a reaction flight control system and was redesignated M2-F3. This was the 16th and final glide flight for the M2-F2. Film taken of the accident was later widely viewed in the popular television series The Six-Million Dollar Man.
May 10, 1972: Fairchild Republic’s YA-10A Thunderbolt II made its first flight, flown by company chief test pilot Howard “Sam” Nelson, in Farmingdale, N.Y. The twin-engine, twin-tailed ground attack aircraft was designed around the General Electric GAU-8 Avenger 30mm rotary cannon.
May 11, 1964: The first prototype North American XB-70A-1- NA Valkyrie rolled out at Air Force Plant 42, Palmdale, Calif. A crowd of more than 5,000 were on hand for the event. In August 1960, the U.S. Air Force had contracted for one XB-70 prototype and 11 pre-production YB-70 development aircraft. By 1964, however, the program had been scaled back to two XB-70As and one XB-70B. Only two were actually completed. The B-70 was designed as a Mach 3+ strategic bomber capable of flying higher than 70,000 feet.
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